Firefighters Replace Family's American Flag

Cade Boeger with his wife Mo and their youngest of five children Tucker witnessed firefighters raise a new large American flag in front of their ranch home that was destroyed in an unusual turn of fate.

Posted: Nov 6, 2017 2:07 PM

Posted By: Marc Blaine

"It brought my wife and I both to tears, I mean these are our heroes," said Cade Boeger.

Boeger with his wife Mo and their youngest of five children Tucker witnessed firefighters raise a new large American flag in front of their ranch home that was destroyed in an unusual turn of fate.

You may have heard the story how after saving the home from last month's Cherokee Fire, a week and half later, firefighters were back fighting another fire.But this time the fire won, destroying the home and the flag firefighter Jason Romero managed to keep away from the flames in the initial fire.

"That thing was just gusting in those 60 mile-per-hour winds and I just thought, you know if the wind dies just a hair, I might be one of the guys that can muscle that thing down without it touching the ground and probably get it inside," said Romero.

"He folded it and put it on my couch, that's how I found it when I got back that night; took my breath away," said Boeger.

And while some time has passed, Cade and his family remain in awe of the firefighters who took ownership in attempting to save their home.

"Really the thing that kind of shocked us is how much humanity these guys bring to the job," said Boeger. "They were going through the fire and dragging things out and bringing it to us, you know in the middle of the fire and the house is still burning."

"Our emotions are a little different. We didn't have a personal loss like they did, but we had a loss," said Cal Fire/Butte County Battalion Chief Russ Fowler. "Our job is to save lives and property. When you take a stand and you do diligence and you save a structure, a building like this and then shortly after something like this tragedy happens, it just sinks in your heart."

And that brings us back to the new American flag that now flies in front of the charred remains of the Boeger's home. It was purchased by the firefighters through their benevolent foundation.

"We wanted to to put the flag back up because its a symbol of American freedom, it's also a symbol of them rebuilding," said Fowler.

"So to have the firemen do that, when they already did so much. You know they tried to save this home, that was enough; so to get the flag is just incredible," said Mo Boeger.